


Farewell... unless?

by rhysands_highlady



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:54:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24859495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysands_highlady/pseuds/rhysands_highlady
Summary: Aloy has cleared out the final bandit camp, and Nil requests to meet her on a mesa. She goes to say goodbye one final time, except it goes the way I want it to 👀
Relationships: Aloy/Nil (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 63





	Farewell... unless?

**Author's Note:**

> I used a lot of the game dialogue in this btw! Those of you who know the game will notice it already but I thought I would mention it 😌

Aloy breathed heavily as she pulled herself up onto the mesa that Nil had told her to meet at. If she was honest, she wasn’t entirely sure why she had come. Maybe it was because she didn’t want them to say goodbye just yet either. 

She spotted him across the way, the dying sun casting shadows on his face. She started towards him until she noticed the bedrolls and corpses. They looked to be bandits, which didn’t surprise her. Not when it came to Nil. 

Aloy sighed and strode across the plain to the man who she couldn’t seem to stay away from. A breeze tousled her hair and she watched it disturb the feathers on Nil’s headdress. He was watching her as she came closer to him. 

“So,” Aloy began when she stopped in front of him, a brow raised. “Seems you found more bandits to kill.” She gestured vaguely behind her before placing both of her hands on her hips. 

“Ah, but there are so few left, little huntress,” Nil replied. She could’ve sworn he looked her up and down as he spoke. He paused. “I’m so glad you came.”

“I did wonder on my way here… well, if you were luring me into an ambush,” Aloy said, a corner of her mouth tilting up.

“Where’s the fun in that?” He smiled slightly, in that odd way he always did. “A bandit sprawl would never have done for our arena.” Aloy frowned, her brows furrowing. She wasn’t sure where he was going with this. “But this—“ He gestured to the plain around them— “much better. There’s a sense of drama.”

“So, what do you say? How about we try to kill each other?” Nil finished. 

Aloy blinked a few times and opened and closed her mouth, not knowing what to say. This wasn’t the first time that someone’s fate had been put in her hands. Then she came to her senses, a bit. 

“Wait. You brought me out here to ask if I want to fight you?” Aloy asked. Nil was already the most confusing man she’d ever met, but this? This really took the cake. What was it with Carja men making her offers she simply  _ had _ to refuse?

“To the death,” he said, nodding. “We’ll savour it because we only get this one time.” Aloy swallowed. She didn’t want to kill him. Never had. At the same time, she didn’t know what else she’d expected. 

She took a step towards him, her palms facing him, and his grey eyes flashed. “I don’t want to kill you, Nil.” Something like panic flickered on his face, but it was gone too fast for her to be sure. 

“Don’t be hasty. When it’s life against death, hunter against hunter—“ He scanned her face. “I know it’ll come to you.”

Aloy’s frown deepened. “Is that really what you want, Nil?” She took another step, and now she was close enough that she had to look up to look him in the eyes. “I don’t think you have a death wish. What you have might be worse.”

“And what might that be, little huntress?” Nil said, blinking slowly at her. Aloy shook her head sharply, not wanting to give into the little corner of her heart that cried out to his.

“It doesn’t matter. I won’t fight you, and that’s my decision,” Aloy said, refusing to look him in the eye. 

“Then it’s over,” he said, taking a step back from her. “Your last arrow is the cruelest.” Her eyes shot up to his face, he sounded so… she didn’t let herself finish that thought. His head was bowed slightly and he turned to go. 

“Nil,” she said. He turned back towards her slowly. Before she could stop herself, she embraced him, wrapping her arms around his middle and pressing her face into his chest. 

“It’s true, I offered you the choice, but… my heart is broken.” Nil said, sounding genuinely upset. “I thought you’d say yes. That I knew you well enough to predict your actions… alas.”

Aloy’s heart clenched. “You don’t know me,” she said on instinct, pulling away from him and taking a few steps for good measure.“I’ve done more than kill bandits.” She rubbed at her chest.  _ No one _ really knew her. She’d been alone for so much of her life. Only Rost came close, but… she shoved down her pain as Nil nodded.

“I don’t doubt it. But bandits were my quarry, and their camps my hunting grounds.” He shrugged as he walked a few steps away and stared at Meridian on the horizon. “Now they’re bare.” His metaphors were slightly unsettling, as they always had been. 

“What… what will you do now?” Aloy asked, knowing she sounded more worried than she ought to be. That’s because she was. He seemed lost, just like her. 

Her hand rested on her bare stomach as she walked towards him. Nil didn’t respond, which she took as an ‘I don’t know’. 

“You could come with me,” Aloy said quietly, now standing beside him. “I know you said that you didn’t want to get involved with the Eclipse and everything, but…” She shrugged. She selfishly wanted to keep him around. She didn’t want to say goodbye anymore. 

“But the cultists are similar enough to bandits that you think it will quench my thirst for blood without compromising your morality?” Nil said. 

Aloy let out a startled laugh and looked up at him. “Yes, Nil, I suppose that’s what I was thinking.” He nodded, still looking at the shining city.

They stared out at Meridian together for a little while. She wondered how a certain king was doing for just a moment before she looked down at the space between her and Nil. Their hands were nearly touching. Aloy swallowed and brushed her fingers against his, brief enough that it could’ve been an accident. 

“I’ll come with you,” Nil said almost as a reply to her touch. Her heart skipped. She looked up and realised he was already watching her. The look in his eyes took her breath away.

“Okay. Let’s go then.”

She turned to walk towards the edge where she’d climbed up, but then she turned back and met Nil’s gaze. “About what I said earlier… about you having something possibly worse than a death wish…” She swallowed and he raised a brow. Her gaze dropped to his lips. 

“Yes, huntress?” Nil said, bowing his head towards her. She sucked in a breath when he moved closer and let her gaze fall to his mostly exposed chest. “What’s your name?” He touched her hair as he spoke.

“Aloy,” she breathed, and Nil hummed, pulling away. He didn’t move far, mostly because Aloy had grabbed his vest with shaking hands to keep him in place as she leaned up to press their lips together.

Nil tilted her head up more with a finger under her chin and slid a strong hand around to rest on her bare lower back. She gasped at the contact and pulled back. They stared at each other. He looked as surprised as she felt. 

“Well, Aloy,” Nil said, her name rolling off of his tongue like a melody. “It seems there is more fun to be had.”


End file.
